The present invention relates to a method for developing a file management system for personal computers or networks which utilizes an object oriented approach for storing and retrieving information. The heart of the invention lies in implementing multiple attributes to all files enabling the retrieval of any file through any one or more of its attributes. The file management software works in collaboration with common software applications and is launched automatically when specific commands, such as "save" are executed from inside the application program, enabling the operator to input or edit attributes at this time. A new appearance to the operating system's desk top is provided enabling rapid access to any desired file by selecting attributes from various categories that appear in dedicated windows.
Prior art would involve directory systems which consist of files and directories with the ability to organize particular files into a dedicated directory and also directories into other directories. Compared with the present invention, conventional file management systems allocate very few attributes to a file, usually the name, date and the program that created it, making it very difficult to retrieve a particular file if one or more attributes are forgotten as the path through directories must be remembered. The present device would make an extremely efficient and resourceful data base system with numerous avenues to retrieve any file. Prior art would also extend to Data Base Management Systems.
Useful and practical applications for the present invention would involve file managers and data base systems commonly used in personal computers and networks. The system itself could be used as a data base to store records, since each attribute can be a record and not linked to any file in different applications.